


Broken Machines

by YellowEyesParrot



Series: Broken Machines [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, F/M, light fluff, some made up economics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-09
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2020-04-23 06:20:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19145293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YellowEyesParrot/pseuds/YellowEyesParrot
Summary: Whitley Schnee, the future heir of the Schnee Dust Company, meets the lost mechanical princess, Penny Polendina, while assisting his father on a bussiness meeting. After this, follows a journey of self-discovery and growth. This is a bit of a character study of Whitley, which is accompanied by angst, romance and a bit of fluff.





	Broken Machines

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Whitley Schnee, the future heir of the Schnee Dust Company, meets the lost mechanical princess, Penny Polendina, while assisting his father on a bussiness meeting. After this, follows a journey of self-discovery and growth. This is a bit of a character study of Whitley, which is accompanied by angst, romance and a bit of fluff.

“This is… impressive.”

Whitley Schnee was thinking, as he walked into the main manufacture chamber, where, behind the huge glass windows, dozens of moving lines were carrying the skeletons of the machines that were to become the defenders of Atlas.

Today was an important day for the young boy. He was to assist, together with his father, to a big bussiness contract between the Schnee Dust Company and the Atlas Military, the two titans of Remnant, which was all about the military receiving most of the Dust produced by the SDC, at reduced prices, and, in exchange, the SDC would get a part of the robots produced, as free labor. And, if Whitley wanted to become a successful heir the company, he then needed to pay close attention to even the smallest details in everything that was about to take place.

It started with the classic introductions. They wouldn’t meet with General Ironwood himself right away. Instead, a man in a military suit appeared and presented himself as their guide through the facility. He seemed to be in his thirties, yet he was gesturing stiffly with his hands everytime he opened his mouth and was sweating profusely, making it clear that he was new to this. Both Whiley and Jacques thought the same thing: it was painful to watch. “Do they just let anyone in now? Or is it that, because they have machines, they afford any nobody to wear the uniform ?”

Eventually, they reached the main point of the facility: the manufacture room. Whitley had to admit; he was truly impressed. Hundreds of humanoid robotic structures were moving down the lines at a time, constantly having more parts attached to them by other mechanisms , one by one, forming the future of Atlas. In front of the windows behind which the picture of progess was on display, the guide was explaining, with a never before seen enthusiasm, how these marvelous Dust automatons weren’t just being built to serve as soldiers, but to work in any life-risking job, bettering the lives of Atlas and Mantle residents. They were to revolutionise, not only the image of the Atlas Military to it’s country, but the entire face of Atlas to the rest of the World of Remnant.

After this showcase of technological prowess, which was unfortunately stained with hyperbolisation, there followed the negociation stage. The two were led inside an office, where General James Ironwood was sitting at his desk, working on several mountains of paper. The office itsself was quite modest. Any form of furniture that was supposed to be there was instead replaced with boxes filled with files and archives, cluttered together. Somehow, none of them were gathering dust. It seemed that Ironwood was a man who constantly organised and reorganised his documents. Actually, the only real ornament in this room was the Atlas coat of arms, hanging on the wall behind the desk, not a speck of dust being visible on it.

At their sight, Ironwood, who had shaved his beard specifically for this meeting, raised himself from his chair and shook hands with both Jaque and Whitley. Even though he knew that he was entitled to this sort of respect, Whitley was still surprised to have his hand shaken too. He shook back and sat down on one of the chairs that were brought inside by the guide. Then, the negociations started.

“This is preposterous.” Jacques was using a calm voice, but, if he wasn’t a trained bussinessman, he would’ve certainly slammed the contract papers on the desk. “This is nothing like we have talked about previously. According to the percentages written right here in this paragraph, I’m at a loss. Not only do I lose millions of lien, just from this contract alone, but I will also receive workforce that will require maintenace. Do you know what this means, Ironwood? _Money._  And it’s money that I have to spend, right from my pocket. I already knew that your... working capabilities were deteriorating, but this is too much. I will sell my Dust to you for full price and you can keep your robots.” The word “robots” could have been replaced with “garbage” and it woud have been the same thing, Whitley thought.

“My Dust Automatons don’t need maintenance, Jacques. They have Aura that keeps them working at full fuctionality. Not only that, but the metal used for their external armor is a newly crafted alloy, that’s under the patent of the Atlas Military itsself. Light but hard, perfect for the harshest of living conditions. We have tested it.”

Right then and there, Jaque made a grin. Whitley knew this grin all too well. His father only had this grin when he was about to get what he wanted. This was one of those situations.

“You have proved quite a point, General Ironwood. However, I do have one thing to point out. You see, I have made my research before coming into this facility. Your Dust Automatons do have Auras, as well as a tough external armor. However, that’s not one hundred percent of their construction, is that correct? On the inside, they have light and thin skeletons, covered in muscle tissue-like tubes. And these tubes carry one highly volatile substance in them: Dust. Dust, which already presents high risk of workplace injury, especially in mines that are full of it. Full of the Dust that I produce and that I would have to also provide for these machines, for the purpose of alimentation. After all, Dust isn’t unlimited, and you know who is the one who distributes it. Having to reduce my profits, when I already have a steady workforce, is unthinkable.” Jaque then streched his arm towards Whitley, like a snake victoriously looming over it’s cornered prey, and pulled him closer. “After all, I have a family to feed, don’t you know?”

Whitley didn’t know whether to feel respect or discust. It was more of a mix of both. Jaque played his assets well, but his manipulation skills have been the ones coiling the situation in his favor. Now, it was all up to Ironwood on how he would respond.

Ironwood sighed. “Fine.-”

“No, no, no. You see, I’m actually interested in this metal that you say that you are producing. Since you will be the one ordering most of my Dust, then the biggest part of it will go to you. That means that I won’t be able to provide many other buyers with the Dust that they need, meaning that my demand would drop, due to less availability of my product, and competition with more supply may rise in power. Therefore, I would need to expand my market. This is why, in exchange for the Dust that I will deliver to you, besides the lien, you will also provide a certain quantity of this metal, with each transport. We will discuss the specifics at a later date, after which we will also rewrite this contract. Do you agree, General Ironwood?”

With Ironwood’s - rather unwilling - agreement in place, they shook hands again, but, right before leaving, the general told the guide something and he then turned towards them one last time:

“Before you leave, I’ll have your guide show you the root of this project. I’m sure that your son would be interested to learn how inovation is born if he wants to be a good bussinessman.”

“Oh, I can assure you, General Ironwood, that my son is already learning from a master of his craft.”

With that, they exited the room together with the guide, who went forward and led them through multiple hallways, until they reached a room with a simple looking closed door. The guide pulled out a key and turned it inside the lock, until a loud  _kerchunk_  was heard. The door opened to a dark room, that lit up once the guide pressed a switch located inside.

That’s when Whitley saw it for the first time. Inside the empty room, sleeping in a glass pod, connected to countless tubes and cables, was a girl. He actually knew her. He saw this girl on TV, during the Vytal Festival. She was the one who got shredded by another huntsman, during a match. He had always thought that these things were barbaric in nature, so that match did nothing but confirm his beliefs.

The way the girl was holding her eyes closed made her look like a lost princess, sleeping inside a crystal coffin, waiting for a prince who would never come.

The memory of violence that she repressented was repulsive to him. And yet, for some reason, he couldn’t take his eyes off her. For a while, it was like everything surrounding Whitley was no more. His father, the guide, and even the whole facility were nothing but a void. There were only him and the girl inside the casket of glass.

He was then snapped back into reality, when the guide stepped in and introduced her:

“This, in case you don’t know already, Penny Polendina. She was actually created by the Atlas Military, as a precursor to the Dust Automaton project. And then, she was met with a tragic end. But that is no more then a stepping stone in the pursuit of advancement. Her sacrifice was an imense tragedy, yet it was also a reminder of the true Atlesian spirit.” He then pulled out a remote switch and continued: “Penny Polendina is still under maintenance, but she has been repaired enough that she can now be activated without a hitch, though this remote.”

The guide then pressed on a button on the remote and then, like a princess woken up from her dream, Penny Polendina opened her eyes.

They were expressionless. She didn’t even look around, even if there were new faces there, watching her with different emotions.

Jacques was uninterested, as this was nothing but a ruined tool that was of no use to him. But Whitley was still gazing upon her. It was almost like he was staring in a mirror.

“Penny, say hello to our new guests, please.”

“... Salutations.”

Whitley knew this catchphrase. She said it on TV several times. But the way she spoke it now was nothing like those times. This time, it was devoid of any joy. Like she was no longer that cheerful girl on TV, but simply a husk. A broken machine.

This overwhelmed him. It filled his chest with an overflowing pain. A certain kind of anguish, which he hasn’t felt in years. The last time he rememberd feeling it was when he was but a toddler. It was late at night and, back then, just like in the present, he used to wander around the halls of the mansion. That was when he heard crying. It was Weiss. She had just performed for the first time in front of a crowd, yet was welcomed by their father with nothing but a cold stare and an “It could be better”. It was her birthday, too. Whitley approached her and sat squatted beside her. He could feel empathy for her, but couldn’t say or do anything, so he left her there. He had regretted this since then and it was the reason he could never comunicate with his sister properly ever since. It was Winter whom she was close to.

Now, this feeling was back. Why? He didn’t even know this girl - this _thing_. She was nothing but a contraption of wires and metal. An instrument to be used until it’s time was up, and then get discarded. Why did he have to remind himself that this was not a person?

After the guide pressed a few more buttons, to show that she could also move her joins properly, he told her to go back inside the pod and then turned her off.

Whitley arrived home feeling empty that day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This first chapter is a birthday present to the awesome person from whom I found out about this wonderful pairing, the Tumblr user https://littlemisssquiggles.tumblr.com/. Happy Birthday and I hope your day was a wonderful one!

**Author's Note:**

> This first chapter is a birthday present to the head chief of the Beta Testers, the Tumblr user https://littlemisssquiggles.tumblr.com/. Happy Birthday and I hope your day was a wonderful one!


End file.
